(2019) Super Nintendo Entertainment System (1991): Review and Retrospective

NOTE: This review was originally posted to Tumblr on February 5, 2019, and has been reposted here for archival purposes. It may not reflect recent events or my current opinions.

If you’ve been following my blog posts, you’ll know that a little while ago I did a retrospective/review on the Wii U. After doing that, I kind of wanted to look at Nintendo’s other systems. That said, I don’t own an actual NES and I only just recently picked up an NES Classic and don’t have too much experience with the system as a whole, so I can’t really say much about it at least for now. I’ll probably review the NES or maybe just the NES Classic itself in more detail, but I figured it would be best to go over to the next system, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

The SNES came out in 1990 in Japan (as the Super Famicom) and 1991 in the United States. It was developed as a system to compete with the new 16-bit systems that were the Sega Genesis (or Mega Drive) and the NEC TurboGrafx-16 (or PC Engine). Despite fierce competition with Sega in the early 90’s and coming out two years later, the SNES managed to become the best selling console of that gen, and was supported up to 2003 in Japan. It is often considered one of the best consoles of all time due to its improvements over the NES and variety of games that to this day still hold up.

Now, I will say that the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was actually one of the first consoles I remember playing. Okay, before you ask, I’m not that old (I’m only 17), but I remember going up to my grandfather’s house fairly often as a young kid, and he had the SNES and I definitely played it. I wasn’t too into video games at that time, so at first I didn’t even know what it was and saw it as a system that played Mario and Zelda, but I do have a lot of memories of playing Super Mario World on it as a kid. There was even one time where I deleted all of the save files on the game because I didn’t understand what that did and my grandfather did get pissed at me, but it was whatever. However, he ended up moving to another state when I was 6 years old, which therefore led to me not being able to see him for a while, so I kind of forgot about the SNES completely until I was 9 and a half years old. I had gotten Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance with a bit of Christmas money I had and that game pretty much made me consider myself a “gamer,” so much so to the point where I started to get interested in retro systems and reading about Nintendo’s history, and seeing images of the system made me recognize it as the Super Nintendo. Around that time, I got into emulation and started downloading ROMs of SNES games to play on my old crappy Dell computer, and the SNES kind of became my favorite system of all time. I didn’t even own one, but it was one I was really into and it made me slip into my hipster phase by going on the ROBLOX forums to talk about why the SNES was better than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and why Super Mario World was a superior game than Call of Duty -although tbh both of those are still true-. Not too long after that, I ended up getting a Wii and started buying SNES games off the Wii Shop, but I didn’t get an actual SNES until I was 12 years old with some birthday money I had saved up. And it was worth it, because it only managed to remind me why I loved the system in the first place.

So, let’s get into specifications. Despite Sega’s insistence on the Genesis’ blast processing, the SNES was in general a more powerful system. The only real achilles’ heel of the system was having a slower CPU, clocking in at 3.6 MHz compared to the Genesis’ 7.6 MHz processor, but otherwise at it’s best the SNES had more a greater color palette, better resolution and more sprites. One particular area where the SNES shined was it’s sound chip, containing a sound chip created by Sony that allowed for more instrumentation. Of course, this wasn’t always utilized well, but when it was, it definitely sounded great, with some of my favorite video game soundtracks being on the system. I guess I could mention here that this licensing led to a SNES CD addon that didn’t see the light of day because of licensing issues and stuff that I don’t feel like going over right now, but otherwise I don’t really have too much else to say here, so I guess we could go on to the next thing.

The SNES controllers are definitely some of my favorite out there. It provides an evolution from the standard NES controllers, by providing a more comfortable shape and more face buttons. This controller was pretty innovative for the time, introducing both the “diamond” face button layout with the ABXY buttons and the L and R shoulder buttons, both of which being features that have become standard for pretty much every controller out there today. And to this day, it’s still a really good controller in my eyes. Granted, I obviously wouldn’t use it for any of the major 3D AAA titles out there today because, well, that’s just stupid, but for the SNES’ games and even indie games that resemble classic NES/SNES titles, it works pretty well. The design and layout is definitely memorable, and it’s comfortable to hold and use while still being simple.

So, this just leaves the games. I have to be honest, despite mostly growing up in the 7th/8th gen, the SNES kind of makes me wish I lived in a time where games were more simple and fun to just pick up and play. The SNES (as well as the Genesis for that matter) managed to achieve a sort of simplicity with it’s games that games now… don’t really have. I mean, there are indie games like Undertale, Freedom Planet, Shovel Knight, and so on that have simple, fun gameplay as well as games like Sonic Mania, Shantae and Mega Man 11, but outside of that, I feel like most of the big AAA games just manage to feel overly complex these days and don’t really have that sort of pick up and play factor that the 16-bit consoles really had, and not to mention all the crap like DLC, microtransactions, lootboxes and so on that today’s games have. I know I sound like a complete hipster right now, but I feel like this is an example of a system that really hits my more niche tastes and has a strong library of titles that don’t go out of their way to be overly complex and “open world” while being 500 miles in diameter with nothing to do and also, y’know, no DLC or microtransactions. And so this brings me into the actual game library to discuss what I loved about these SNES games.

Super Mario World was one of the launch games for the system, and, honestly… to this day is probably my favorite game of all time. I mean, it’s really close between that and Overwatch, but Super Mario World is a game that I definitely have a special spot for and continue to enjoy to this day. While I wouldn’t say it was my first game ever (okay maybe it was since i played it at my grandfather’s house), or the game that got me playing video games (I was playing my Game Boy Advance library with Super Mario Bros 2, Pokemon LeafGreen and Hamtaro: Ham Ham Heartbreak… as well as ROBLOX), I feel like it was the game that truly got me into gaming and got me into considering myself a “gamer.” Some of my favorite gaming memories of all time come from my first playthrough of this game, between getting it in the mail, using the Cape Feather for the first time, being really excited when I beat it for the first time, unlocking all the secret exits, raging real hard at some of the secret levels (fuck tubular)… I’m pretty sure I actually spent the first half of 2011 100%ing the game and doing all I could to get the most satisfying experience. And it was worth it, and to this day… I can’t really say that many games have given be that sort of experience. Undertale was one game that I played through multiple times to get all the endings, same for Night in the Woods, and there’s also Overwatch which I’ve played for hundreds of hours with no signs of slowing down, but even those I can’t say really gave me an experience to the extent that 100%ing Super Mario World did. And while I can’t really speak of the game without looking through rose tinted glasses, I still feel that the game has held up extremely well. The levels are all fun to play through (except the autoscrolling ones screw those), the controls are tight, the power ups are fun to use, and it’s just a fun game to replay, especially with all the different routes that can be taken on the map via many secret exits in levels. It’s a game I still go back to at least annually to this day, and I always have fun with it whether to playthrough the game normally, speedrun the game or find all the secret exits.

But if Super Mario World is so great, why didn’t it get a sequ- Oh wait it did.

Okay, maybe more of a prequel, but Yoshi’s Island came out in 1995, towards the end of the SNES’ lifespan before the N64 came out, but it is another game I really enjoyed, and I would definitely consider it my second favorite Mario game out there. Again, the levels were all fun to play through, Yoshi’s abilities were definitely fun to use, and the game’s artstyle and soundtrack stick with me to this day.

Another Mario game is Super Mario All-Stars, this being a compilation of remakes of the NES/Famicom titles, including the Lost Levels which ended up serving as the first time the game was brought over to the United States. It’s definitely a worthy title, since the remakes of the game are definitely well done with better graphics and music and also manage to polish any issues that the original NES versions have. Granted, there are people out there that prefer the NES versions of the games, but for me, Super Mario All-Stars is definitely my preferred way of playing the original NES Mario titles. There’s also a version of this game that comes with Super Mario World, and if you can get your hands on that version, I would definitely recommend it. It not only comes with all the classic Mario titles up to that point, but also has some minor improvements for Super Mario World, particularly giving Luigi his own sprite set as opposed to just being a Mario recolor as well as an extra save slot.

Super Mario Kart is another Mario title, this being a spinoff, which has obviously turned into it’s own subseries and probably the most infamous out of all the Mario spinoffs out there. I can’t really say this one has aged too well in my eyes, as the controls aren’t very good for a racing title especially by today’s standards, but I still find it to be a fun game as long as I’m not playing anything 100cc or above because then it just becomes the Dark Souls of racing games. It has charm, especially being the original Mario Kart title, but I would only recommend it if you’re a Mario Kart fan and are interested in trying out the original.

There’s actually a lot of Mario games on the SNES, mostly being spinoffs such as Mario Paint, Yoshi’s Cookie, Wario’s Woods, and some bad edutainment titles like Mario is Missing, Mario Teaches Typing and Mario’s Early Years (did that last one really need to exist), but of course I kind of need to move on to some of the other SNES greats, so let’s move forward.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is the SNES’ Zelda title, and while I’m not a particularly big Zelda guy personally (pls don’t kill me), it is a great title and out of the games I’ve played, is still my favorite in the series. In a lot of ways, it kind of sums up what I really enjoy about the SNES’ library, being a relatively simple game that’s fun to play with an interesting story, an overworld that’s fun to explore, well designed puzzles and dungeons as well as great visuals and music. It kind of reminds me of what I really loved from 2D Zelda games moreso than 3D games, particularly the more fun and fast paced combat compared to later 3D titles. I recently decided to get Link Between Worlds for the 3DS, and while I haven’t played too much of it so far, it’s definitely a good sequel and reminds me of what I loved about Link to the Past compared to most of the other games in the series.

Then there’s the Donkey Kong Country games. Admittedly, I haven’t really played the third one and have heard that one’s considered underwhelming compared to the others, but either way, Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 at least are great platformers that really managed to hold up. The first one was particularly popular for it’s 2.5D visuals that were done on regular hardware without any peripherals (*cough*SegaGenesis*cough*) and was the game that was said to have pushed SNES sales and caused it to become the top system of that generation. And again, they’re still fun platformers to play and ones I enjoy, due to their level design, controls and having some of my favorite soundtracks in gaming (Aquatic Ambience. Just Aquatic Ambience.)

Another visually impressive game is Star Fox, coming out in 1993 with the “Super FX” chip that allowed for the SNES to render basic polygon graphics. Granted, it doesn’t hold up quite as well as Donkey Kong Country does, mostly due to it’s low framerate and low polygon count, but it’s still one of my favorites on the system and actually did sort of get me into the series. I do consider Star Fox 64 to be the better game, yet still find myself going back to the SNES Star Fox more just because of the charm it has of being a fairly impressive game of the time. There was also Star Fox 2, but that got cancelled at the time and didn’t get officially release until 2017 with the release of SNES classic, but what from I have played, it’s definitely a good game for what it is, just as long as you don’t be like IGN and compare it to standards of games that were actually developed and released in that time.

A genre that’s particularly prevalent on the SNES is JRPGs, and if you’re a fan of those, the SNES has probably the best library of JRPGs out there, at least along with the PS1. I haven’t really played enough of the SNES’s great RPGs to really talk about them, but it does seem to have a good variety of them with different appeals. Super Mario RPG was probably the first RPG I played on the system, and from what I played, it’s definitely a great title and probably among the best on the system. The story’s interesting, the characters are great, the mechanics are fun, and it’s legacy would live on in the form of both the Paper Mario and Mario and Luigi series of RPG Mario spinoffs. Final Fantasy VI (or Final Fantasy III as is known in the States) is another one of my favorites on the system, and probably my favorite out of the Final Fantasy games I’ve played. There’s also Final Fantasy IV (or Final Fantasy II in the States), but I haven’t played it atm. There’s also Earthbound, a particularly niche RPG game that while didn’t sell well at the time has gained a cult following and would later be the inspiration of games like Undertale, and Chrono Trigger, which again I haven’t played but is in general critically acclaimed and not only considered one of the best games on the system, but one of the best games of all time.

There are, of course, definitely a lot of games on the system, but I either haven’t played them enough or don’t really have enough to say about them, but some of the other popular games on the system include of games like Kirby Super Star, Kirby’s Dream Land 3, F-Zero, Super Metroid, Super Castlevania IV (my brother’s favorite on the system), Super Ghouls n’ Ghosts, SimCity, Contra III: The Alien Wars, Turtles in Time, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the Mega Man X games, Super Punch Out, you get the idea. Despite being an almost 30 year old console, I still feel like the SNES is one of those consoles that has something great for just about anyone.

So, I think all things considered, the SNES is one of if not my favorite console of all time. I’ll even say that my online username that I used pretty much everywhere at one point was “SuperNESBrony” just because I loved the console (and MLP) so much. Sure, it doesn’t have the amazing features and full 3D graphics that today’s consoles have, but it’s an example of a system where it’s main focus was on having great, fun games, which is something that I feel like most consoles from the last couple generations just don’t really have. And I think the SNES kind of hits the sweet spot as far as having games that are simple enough to just sort of jump into and have fun while still having enough depth in them to truly immerse yourself in and doesn’t have the barebones simplicity of, say, the Atari 2600 or even NES.

But with all these things said, do I recommend the SNES now?

Well… that’s hard to say.

Yes, I love the system a lot, and I think everyone can find a good selection of games to enjoy on the SNES no matter what generation of games you grew up with. But at the same time, it’s reached the point where it’s old enough to where those who grew up with the system have wanted to go back and play their old games, and over the past decade prices for games on the system have been increasing at a pretty fast rate. You can probably find the system itself for $50-$60, which isn’t too bad, and some of the more common games like Super Mario World, A Link to the Past and Donkey Kong Country can be found for about $10-$20, which isn’t too bad of a price. But especially in the case with a lot of the more niche and saught after games, expect to pay a good amount of money. Super Castlevania IV and Super Metroid go for about $40 each these days, which is about the price of a AAA title that’s gone down in price after a few months, and if you really want to play those great RPGs, good luck finding them for less than $40 as well. Games like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound have especially increased in price, with the former going for around $100 and the latter going for $200 and increasing.

In all fairness, depending on the types of games you wanna buy, it might not be too hard to find some of these titles, but it is still increasing in price and doesn’t really show signs of slowing down. Which is why I would be kind of weary about purchasing an SNES and a good library of games now.

On the plus side, if  you want to experience the SNES’ great library of games, you do have a few options. Most people would flock to emulation of course, but if you want something at least close to the original experience, you can also build a Raspberry Pi or buy a selection of SNES games on the Wii U and New 3DS virtual console if you have either of those.

But personally, I’d probably say the SNES Classic is probably the closest you can get to a good SNES experience while still being affordable. For $80, you can get a system that resembles a miniature version of the SNES Model 1 that comes with 21 games, one of those being the never before released Star Fox 2. And while it doesn’t quite have all the SNES’ best titles, it does cover a lot of that base, having a good selection that I think represents the best of the SNES library. The library of games on the SNES Classic isn’t necessarily perfect (I would’ve probably swapped out Kirby’s Dream Course for Donkey Kong Country 2 or Chrono Trigger), but if you aren’t necessarily happy with it, you can of course mod the system and add games to it, and it plays them pretty well with controllers that look and work exactly like the originals, just with a different connector. Unfortunately, as I was writing this, Nintendo has discontinued production of the SNES Classic (as well as the NES Classic for that matter), so it might be a bit hard to find down the road, but if you can pick one up for it’s recommended retail price of $80, I would definitely recommend it.

Either way, I’m going to conclude this by saying that the Super NES is one of if not my favorite consoles of all time, and definitely one with one of the best game libraries out there. Even after almost 3 decades of this system being released, I’m still going back and discovering new titles that I haven’t had much experience with that end up being great times, or just going back and having tons of fun with games I’ve played multiple times before. It’s just a really good console with a great library of games, with tons of variety and great single player experiences. And above all else, I think it really says something when even if I have an actual SNES and have spent tons of money on games and whatnot for it, I end up also buying an SNES Classic just to have a little microconsole to experience any of the games I missed out on.